GURPREET SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants of these two appeals along with accused Bhajan Singh @ Harbhajan Singh and Meharban Singh were made accused in a case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (for short IPC) but as accused Meharban Singh died during trial, the remaining three accused persons were tried and by its judgment the trial court acquitted accused Bhajan Singh @ Harbhajan Singh whereas these two appellants were convicted under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/- each, in default to undergo further imprisonment for a period of six months. Against the order of acquittal of accused Harbhajan Singh, no appeal was filed by the State whereas on appeal being filed by the appellants, the High Court confirmed their conviction and sentence. The revision application filed by the private prosecutor for enhancement of sentence has been rejected by the High Court.

(2.) Prosecution case, in short, was that Kuljit Singh @ Billa was a student of B.A. Part I in Arya College, Ludhiana and he was a witness in a case filed for prosecution of appellant Gurpreet Singh under Section 307 IPC which was pending. On 22nd January, 1990 at about 5.30 p.m., Kuljit Singh along with his brother Harvinder Singh and friends Parminder Singh (PW 2) and Gurvinder Singh (PW 3) was returning to his house after attending classes from Guru Angad Dev College and when they reached near Oriental Public School, the appellants along with accused Meharban Singh, who were present there armed with kirpans, confronted him. Appellant Gurpreet Singh shouted that Kuljit Singh should be done to death and he attacked him with kirpan on his head. Thereafter, appellant Mohinder Pal Singh @ Vicky inflicted kirpan blow in the abdomen of Kuljit Singh. Accused Meharban Singh assaulted him with kirpan on the temporal region whereupon Kuljit Singh fell down. In the meantime, accused Harbhajan Singh who too was armed with kirpan came there and also dealt a kirpan blow on the forehead of Kuljit Singh. All the aforesaid accused persons thereafter inflicted several injuries upon Kuljit Singh even after he fell down. In the process of inflicting injuries, appellant Gurpreet Singh also received injuries at the hands of one of the co- accused. On halla being raised, people of the locality arrived whereafter the accused persons fled away. Kuljit Singh was taken to Christian Medical Hospital by PW 3 and Harvinder Singh where the doctor declared him dead. Thereupon, Harvinder Singh, who was brother of Kuljit Singh - deceased, left for the police station but on the Brown Road, near Christian Medical Hospital, he met Sub Inspector Bakshish Singh (PW 8) who recorded his statement stating therein the aforesaid facts and sent the same to the police station where a case was registered against all the aforesaid four accused persons, including the appellants on the same day at 7.15 p.m.

(3.) Police after registering the case took up investigation and on completion thereof submitted charge sheet against the accused persons, on receipt whereof, learned magistrate took cognizance and committed all the aforesaid accused persons, including the appellants, to the court of Session to face trial. As accused Meharban Singh died during trial, the same proceeded against the remaining three accused persons.